By BRENNAN LEATHERS
News Writer

Anne Reynolds, a graduating senior at Bainbridge High School, knows a lot about many things. That’s because she’s the captain of the BHS Quiz Bowl team, which has been highly successful in recent years but probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

Reynolds, who was recently recognized as Decatur County’s STAR Student for the 2011-2012 school year, has been competing in Quiz Bowl competitions since she was in middle school. She’s competed on the “A” varsity squad all four years of high school.

Quiz Bowl is more than just answering trivia questions, Reynolds explained. At tournaments, each school’s team members have to answer questions about a variety of academic subjects, such as classic literature, general science, astronomy, physics, history and humanities (mythology, art and music).

Each of the questions is usually about three to five sentences in length, starting off with harder clues that get easier as each sentence is read. Once a competitor thinks they know the answer, they can buzz in.

“They’re trying to reward knowledge, to reward people who have studied and learned the most — it’s not about who can buzz in the fastest, although you can get bonus points for buzzing in early and answering correctly,” Reynolds said.

To prepare for competitions, team members have to study regularly for many weeks, poring over questions from past competitions and honing their knowledge on topics that a tournament’s directors have indicated might be covered. Because of the massive amount of knowledge required to be successful, each of the Quiz Bowl team’s members specialize in different subjects, to make the task easier.

Reynolds, the team’s captain, is an expert on literature and humanities. Eli Poché focuses on science, while Jakob Thorn and Amanda Wooten both know a lot about social sciences.

But it’s not all about reading, memorizing and competing in the sometimes tense close matches against other schools — Quiz Bowl competitors get to have a little fun, too.

“One of the cool things about Quiz Bowl is that you get to travel to lots of cool places,” Reynolds said. “We’ve been to Chicago, Atlanta, Savannah, Tallahassee and all over Georgia.”

The 2010-2011 school year was a banner year for the BHS Quiz Bowl team. They were Region 1-AAAA champions and finished third at the state competition. They were nationally ranked by multiple quiz bowl organizations and were invited to the national competiton sponsored by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE), which was held in Chicago, Ill., last May.

This year, BHS’s team were again region champions. They traveled to Tallahassee to compete in the Big Bend Brain Brawl in March. They finished in fourth place out of 70 teams, losing to eventual champion Maclay School.

To be able to afford their trips, Quiz Bowl team members had to hold fundraisers during the year, use some money from a past season and rely on donations from their parents. Their dedication is not unnoticed by BHS Principal Tommie Howell.

“The BHS Quiz Bowl is an academic power, because its members and coach are talented and dedicated,” Howell said. “They spend much time in study and practice. As a former BHS Quiz Bowl member and coach, I could not be prouder of their accomplishments.”

In addition to Reynolds, Poché, Thorn and Wooten, who comprised the “A” team this year, members of the BHS Quiz Bowl B team include Jalyn Mills, Erin Caplan, Emily New, Jack Reynolds (Anne’s younger brother) and Trey Walker.

Future bright for Reynolds

As for Reynolds, graduation from high school won’t be the end of her successful academic career.

She has been selected to a five-member team that will represent Georgia at the National All-Star Academic Tournament, to be held this coming June at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

“Anne Reynolds is an exceptional student and a fierce Quiz Bowl competitor,” Principal Howell said. “To be selected as one of five all-stars to represent Georgia in a national competition at Ohio State is a great achievement.”

Reynolds has been preparing for the All-Star competition by participating in Internet video chats with the other four team members each Sunday.

“Anne is definitely the hardest-working player I have ever coached. She is an incessant preparer who does not like losing!” said Mitch Alday, an English teacher at BHS who is the Quiz Bowl team’s faculty advisor. “I think her greatest contribution to our team has been the example she sets for the younger players. She consistently proves that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

This fall, Reynolds will attend Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., where she hopes to dual-major in both English and biology.